


Sleep, sleep, our child

by ChirpingEmu



Category: Glee
Genre: Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-02
Updated: 2013-04-02
Packaged: 2017-12-07 07:53:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/746105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChirpingEmu/pseuds/ChirpingEmu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wes is seriously peeved at having to share a hotel room with Kurt, until Kurt's nightmare reveals something.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Wes had had it up to here with the universe and was more than willing to let everybody around him know it. First, Blaine, without _any_ regard to timing, had gotten laryngitis. Yes, laryngitis, even _after_ Wes had warned him about cold and flu season and had given him a surgical mask to wear, just in case.  


As if that wasn't enough, there had been all kinds of non-productive chatter when Kurt, instead of waiting for the proper moment as the Warbler adaptation of Roberts' Rules of Order clearly dictated, had announced it right at the beginning of the meeting. As far as he was concerned, it would be better if Kurt had a disciplined attitude and unruly hair, rather than the other way around. When he pointed this out to Kurt, gently but firmly, Kurt had actually rolled his eyes.  


What made this fiasco even worse was that they had followed the traditions established when the Warblers first went to competitions and selected hotel room-mates by random drawing from the hat of the oldest Warbler. And guess whose name Wes had to pull? None other than that selfsame Kurt Hummel.  


While Wes was rechecking the sheet music for the new songs the Council had selected, the ones that minimized the loss of their lead singer, Kurt had gone to bed. As Wes had suspected, he was an undisciplined sleeper, too, tossing and turning and even murmuring to himself.  


The more Wes tried to tune it out, the more restless Kurt seemed, and he finally emitted a moan. Wes turned, reluctantly, and saw that Kurt was holding his arms up as if he was trying to ward something off.  


"No, stop it! Get off me!" Another moan that was more of a cry, "Stop, please, stop!" Wes went over to the bed and shook Kurt's shoulder.  


"Hey, wake up, you're having a nightmare."  


Kurt thrashed again. "Please, please, don't touch me...God, no, no!" Wes shook him harder, and what came out of Kurt's mouth next sounded like a scream.  


"No, please, I never, please, please don't do this, please, you're not a rapist..."  


 _Oh, dear God. It was sounding like somebody had raped him._ Wes shook him more urgently and then realized that it wasn't helping. If anything, judging by Kurt's keening, it was making things worse.  


Wes had no idea what to do, something that happened only every few years. Instinctively, he tried to gather Kurt into his arms, to hold and reassure him, but that only triggered Kurt to struggle more. A surprisingly powerful punch caught him completely by surprise. "Kurt, Kurt, you're safe, it's over, come on, Kurt, it's over, you're safe," he tried saying, quietly, but that didn't make a difference either. He didn't know if Kurt was even hearing him or not, or if somehow it was getting incorporated into the nightmare like shaking him clearly had been.  


He was about to run to get somebody else, then reminded himself that it was his job to do what he could. Not just as a Council member but because this was Kurt, a fellow Warbler, Blaine's friend, and a soul in pain.  


He thought of one thing that wouldn't be nightmare fodder. Crouching near the bed, he began to sing to Kurt, and the first thing that came to mind was a Korean lullaby his mother loved. "Jaljara, jaljara, uri agi, sleep, sleep, our child," and slipped his hand under Kurt's, rather than trying to grab it. At this, Kurt seemed calmer, and Wes tried again to hold him. When Kurt didn't cry out or resist, Wes pulled him tightly against his chest and Kurt gasped, waking up.  


"Shhhhhh, you're safe now, he's not here." Kurt pulled away and Wes immediately released him.  


Kurt's eyes filled with tears and he whispered, "I can't even sleep without...he said he owns me and sometimes I think he does. He took my first kiss and then just when I thought I'd gotten away, my first...I begged him not to, I said I was a virgin and begged him not to, but...he laughed and..."  


"Kurt..." Wes held his arms out again but Kurt turned away.  


"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have...I didn't mean to keep you awake, you've got things to do."  


"Nothing that's more important than you, right now." Wes smiled. "Nothing."  


"But...tomorrow's the competition..."  


"Doesn't matter."  


Kurt stared at him and then asked, with a shaky laugh, "So where's Wes and who are you?"  


"Look, Kurt, I know I sometimes get a stick up my ass, my own sister says that I shit toothpicks, but seriously, you matter so much more than that."  


Kurt's defenses seemed to break entirely at that, and he buried his face in Wes' shoulder as Wes gently rocked him back and forth, running a hand up and down his back. Finally, Kurt seemed exhausted and yawned, a huge, unbecoming gape. "Ready to go back to sleep?"  


"I think so." He drew a deep breath. "Thanks, Wes."  


"Think nothing of it." He shoved the music into a pile on the desk and turned out the lights. He didn't even bother brushing his teeth. After a few minutes, he heard Kurt shift a little. "Kurt?"  


"Hmmm?"  
"

I'm just thinking...tell me if it would stress you more, but...do you want me to come over there? So if you have another nightmare, I'll be right there?"  


Wes held his breath, it had been a stupid idea, Kurt was probably thinking this was some weird mind game or control freak thing, but then he heard Kurt say, "Really?"  


"Sure, if you want me to."  


"Please." Without turning on the light, Wes padded over, got into the bed, and put his arms carefully around Kurt. _How did he get so skinny? Is he even eating? Okay, tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll ask for as much as he wants me to know, but for tonight, and from now on, I'm going to make sure he feels safe and loved._


	2. Chapter 2

Wes woke up again towards morning to the sound of Kurt making a soft, protesting sound, but fortunately drawing him closer and humming seemed to calm him without even waking him up. Since there wasn't enough time to go back to sleep, he started the morning as he always did, with making a list of what he needed to do that day, and started with the first category, "How to Help Kurt."

1\. Reassure him that you care and that you'll try to help without pushing or intruding. Address any issues he may have with involuntarily confiding in you.

2\. Maintain the room sharing status quo during the tour since it helps.

3\. Find out when his attacker's trial is and offer to attend to provide moral support.

4\. Determine what Blaine might need and provide.

5, Find out about Kurt's eating habits and encourage him to eat more. Find specialized help if needed.

6\. Determine other needs and find ways to fulfill them as situation requires.

Now that was a good list, thorough and organized, comprehensive but still open-ended, he decided. The next lists were about the Warblers and logistics, including choreography rehearsals, the most important item being getting Jeff to use his peripheral vision to keep in line rather than turning his head. It wasn't visible from the audience but if Jeff ever became distracted, it could be. By the time he finished those lists, Kurt stirred again, but normally, and woke up.

He first looked confused, then shocked, and then embarrassed. Wes had planned for this and grimaced, "Sorry about my morning breath," then continued, "Look, I know you didn't exactly plan to tell me everything that you did last night, but I hope you don't regret it, either, and that it won't be awkward with me knowing, too."

Kurt nodded as he got out of bed. "Thanks, Wes...I really appreciate it." He sighed softly and added, "In a way, I'm glad that somebody knows."

Wes stopped as he was gathering his clothing. "Wait. Somebody knows? You mean, you mean nobody else knows what happened to you?" No wonder Kurt was having nightmares and acting jumpy.

"God, no. I...I couldn't tell my dad, it...I can't take that kind of risk with his heart, and..." Wes could barely hear Kurt's quiet, "And I can't tell Blaine, he'd..."

"He'd what?" Wes didn't mean to raise his voice, but at least it produced a steady look from Kurt rather than a flinch. "Kurt, Blaine's your boyfriend, why wouldn't you tell him?"

"Because I don't want it to ruin what we've got," Kurt shot back. In a smaller voice, he added, "And can we not talk about it?"

Time to back off. "Course. Whatever you need."

"Thanks." It sounded ungracious but Kurt's expression filled in the rest.

They showered and dressed without talking about anything other than the upcoming performance and went down to the buffet breakfast with the other Warblers. Wes noticed that Kurt got a cup of coffee with skim milk and a single piece of toast and barely nibbled at the toast. When he got up to refill his orange juice, he came back with another glass that he gave to Kurt. "You need more non-caffeine liquids if you're going to keep your voice in good shape for this afternoon," he ordered, and Kurt at least sipped at it. He took a bite of his scrambled eggs and then said, enthusiastically, "These are great! Come on, Kurt, you've got to try some," and pushed a portion from the untouched part of his plate onto Kurt's. David looked at him strangely, probably because the eggs weren't all that good, but at least Kurt nibbled at those, too. It wasn't much, but it was more food inside him, and when he went to get more coffee, he got some more for Kurt and after thinking it over, put in 1 percent milk, since Kurt had asked for skim. He wanted to go for cream or whole milk, but thought that might be pushing it, while he might not notice 1 percent. Kurt drank it without seeming to notice and Wes made a note of it.

Then it was Thad's turn to look at him oddly when Wes said, casually, that there was no need to reshuffle roommates for the next night. It was an absolute break in precedent and Wes actually felt bad about it, but this times, the need of the one outweighed the need of the many for tradition.

The warmups, rehearsal, and performance went exactly to plan, even without Blaine. Nick shone in the solo and he and Jeff had perfect absurd chemistry in their duet, an arrangement of Istanbul Not Constantinople, while the background dancing was superb, except for a marginally noticable and quickly-recovered moment off the beat during the belly dancing. The full ensemble number was also right on track. Sure enough, they won and he considered it well-deserved, even if somebody from Vocal Adrenaline groused that it was only because one of the judges was picked because she had starred on a two-episode-then-cancelled reality television show about competitive bird watchers who use boomerangs, and so the name Warblers gave them an unfair advantage.

They continued their tour to an alumni event in Dayton, where they repeated the performance and added a few other numbers. After the performances, as they planned for the next day in Cleveland, Kurt was clearly flagging and Wes drew him aside, put an arm around his shoulders, asked if he was doing okay, and when Kurt admitted he was tired, they went to their room together. Kurt looked embarrassed when he got into bed and to save him asking, Wes simply got in with him and wrapped his arms around him as before.


	3. Chapter 3

"Wes left his blazer," Flint said, staring at it hanging on the back of his chair. This was somewhere between unprecedented and downright impossible. The other Warblers were just breaking up to go to their rooms and stopped to stare as well.

"He must be really distracted by trying to work out the new choreographies. We're on the same floor, I'll drop it off." Thad picked it up and when he folded it over his arm, Wes' key card dropped out of the pocket and he picked that up, too. As it turned out, most of the Warblers were on the same floor and Wes' and Kurt's room was closest to the elevator, so most of them lingered.

Thad knocked quietly and when there was no answer, he shrugged and said, "I'll just hang it on the inside door, if I leave it outside, somebody might think he left it out for cleaning."

He slipped the key card into the slot and pushed the door open slightly. When he heard a quick cry of fear, he pushed it all the way open and he and the others crowded in. In the same instant, the bedside light flicked on, and they all saw Wes and Kurt in the one bed, with the other bed not even touched.

Kurt was staring at them in obvious near-panic, eyes huge and pupils dilated. Wes was apparently completely ignoring them in favor of holding Kurt by the shoulders until his breathing slowed down, then hugging him, saying, "Nobody is going to hurt you here, you're safe, Kurt, everything's okay." Kurt finally nodded, shakily.

"Hmmm, would Blaine agree with that?" Trent demanded sarcastically and that was the pebble that started the avalanche of shouted accusations, with only a few words emerging coherently from the tumult, "trusted," "violation," "cheating," "Michelle," and "Blaine."

When the first lull opened, Wes shouted, "Shut up!" This was startling enough, even in these circumstances, that everybody fell silent, and he swung his legs to the ground, got up, and stepped forward with a glare.

"First of all, how dare you make accusations first and not even ask questions?" He started counting the points off on his fingers. "Second, why are you so quick to think that I would cheat on Michelle or that Kurt would cheat on Blaine, let alone that I would hide being bisexual from all of you? Third, if Kurt and I were having sex, we'd hardly both still be in our pajamas, and fourth, how could you possibly imagine that even if Kurt and I were cheating, that I would do so during an official Warblers activity?" He had taken a step forward with each point and by the end, was practically nose to nose with Thad, who took a step back.

"But you were in bed together," Thad protested, weakly. Jeff added, "And the way you were acting with Kurt before..." Wes turned to look at Kurt and, to the Warblers, it appeared as though their shared glance was an entire conversation. Wes was asking something, Kurt agreeing, Wes asking again, and Kurt reconfirming.

Wes' voice softened. "Something happened to Kurt." His mouth tightened again as he said, firmly, "It's his choice, not mine, whether to say what," but became gentle again as he continued. "He's been having trouble sleeping and having somebody right there helps."

Now, the Warblers' faces were showing a score of different emotions, concern, embarrassment, compassion, and confusion. Wes also saw some of them frowning in thought as if they might be trying to figure out what had happened to Kurt. He tried to make eye contact with all of them before adding, "Please respect his privacy about this."

Kurt swallowed hard. He never would have expected the reaction that he was seeing, all the awkward concern and compassion in their eyes, and now the various murmurs of, "We should have known better" and "I'm sorry, should have trusted you." A few of them came closer, just a few steps, not to crowd him, but to provide silent support. Maybe, in one important way, the Warblers were just like New Directions. On the surface, they could both seem bizarre and uncaring, whether it was New Directions hurling insults or the Warblers' adherence to traditions and suppression of individuality. But the reality was that they cared for and protected their own.

He cleared his throat softly. "Thank you, Wes. But...I've been thinking a lot...after how you reacted...and it made me realize that I don't have to be ashamed of what happened to me. I need to tell Blaine, first, and then I can tell the rest of you."

"You don't have to!" Thad said immediately. "We...it's okay if you..." He trailed off inarticulately and Kurt nodded, saying softly, "I know," as Thad and the rest retreated to the door.

Wes got back into the bed and asked Kurt, "Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"Better than I thought I'd be. Thanks, Wes."

Two days later.

Blaine and Kurt were sitting on Kurt's bed facing one another. Blaine was holding both Kurt's hands in his, his face still scrunched and red, made ugly by tears and anger. Kurt, though, was looking at him in utter relief, his own eyes red. He had just told Blaine what had happened and after his first outburst of rage and grief, storming around the room and shouting threats, he'd returned to the bed to clasp Kurt's hands in his.

Kurt repeated, "All they know is that he ran away. I...the police are already looking for him since he stole a car after he totaled his. I...I don't know what I'll do if they find him, it depends on so much, on how dad is, if...if it seems like he'd be a danger to anybody else." He cleared his throat. "I want to pay attention to getting better. To being with you."

"What, what do you need me to do?"

Kurt closed his eyes for a moment, not knowing how to put it in words. The fears that had weighed on him, that Blaine would disbelieve him, think that he was tainted, or have any other reason to reject him had all disappeared. Of course, he had been sure that Blaine wouldn't, that he had the ordinary human decency not to blame him and was mature and loving enough to put aside whatever biologically-induced rage and possessiveness he might feel, but now there wasn't even the possibility that Blaine would take it badly and hurt him further. "I don't know," he answered, honestly. "I...just be Blaine, all right?"

His boyfriend caught him in a fierce hug and they clung tightly to one another, united in giving and sharing strength and comfort, disarming the past of its power to hurt and the future of its power to frighten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt: You might wanna grab a chair, because this prompt is LONG: Karofsky rapes Kurt. Not consensual in any way, shape, or form. You don't HAVE to describe it if you don't want to (though it's be preferred if you did (save me a seat on the train to special hell), as long as you make it clear that it happened (and it's full-on rape, not just another kiss- there's penetration). That's the real reason he transfers to Dalton, but he keeps it a secret, even from Blaine; he's too ashamed and afraid. Do to a mix-up or a crazy random happenstance, Kurt is boarding with Wes. One night, Kurt is thrashing about in his sleep, having a nightmare (memory) of the 'incident', and from the things Kurt's saying, Wes gets a pretty good idea of what happened; Ex: "No-I don't want this! Don't touch me!". Normal HBIC!Wes melts into comforting!Wes, who holds Kurt (who's crying and petrified), comforts him, reassures him, etcetera, etcetera. Just lots of KurtXWes cuddly comforting moments. Please, no smut between Wes and Kurt though- the kid's just been raped, he's not going to want to have sex any time soon. My undying love, my soul, eternal servitude, and my firstborn child would go to whoever fills this! Please, there really isn't enough WesXKurt in the world, even if it's just friendship.


End file.
